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Total Recall

I was watching a college basketball game several months ago (let’s be honest—my husband was and I was in the room). During a commercial break, I saw an ad featuring an anthropomorphized ostrich and giraffe. They were sitting in a bar exchanging catty remarks about other female animals. The characters compared the customization (a rhinoplasty and hump augmentation) of these animals to what MiO liquid water enhancer allows you to do with water.

I started writing a post about the commercial the next day. My original reaction was, “Why?” Why computer generated animals to pitch a flavored water enhancer? Why are they in a bar drinking flavored water? Why is this ad, obviously geared toward women, being featured on ESPN during March Madness? (I’m sure I’ll get some comments about the latter—but c’mon, ladies, you can’t deny that we’re not the main audience for this sporting event).

I searched the Web to learn a bit more about MiO. I discovered more commercials. Turns out the majority of MiO’s ‘Watering Hole’ commercials are geared toward men. I came across ‘Cheetah’ and ‘Croc Block’—the first one to make me chuckle. I also found other posts and articles.
Ryan Comstock at psychommercials.com does a great job describing the alcohol-esque appeal MiO uses to pitch its product. He says:

Maybe we just need constant assurance that no matter what we’re drinking, eating, wearing, driving or insuring ourselves with, they will always lead us to being cooler and more sexually attractive than we were before.

Making a long story semi-short, I ultimately decided to table my original post. It wasn’t until yesterday I revisited it. I discovered new commercials: ‘All Nighter,’‘Manuel’ (another one I find amusing) and ‘Naked Mole Rat’ (yes, you read that correctly). Although the ‘Nose Job’ commercial didn’t make an awesome first impression, it did remind me commercials with animals generally have a high rate of recall. And when it comes to elements of recall, the ‘Watering Hole’ commercials went for the trifecta—animals, humor, sex. Throw some babies in there and it’ll be, “Crystal Light, whaa?” MiO is ‘shaking things up’ in the world of water flavoring and enhancement. I finally decided to stop questioning and just enjoy.